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Many valve boxes (including 10" rounds) can come with what is called a "lockable" lid. The lock is just an angled bolt that stops the lid from being lifted. It is turned into place with a wrench. I would not, under any circumstances, bury a valve box so it can not be found. We put valve boxes around things for a reason... so we have access to items for service. Burying a box is a guarantee of future headaches. To the orignal poster: Do you reason to be concerned with the possibility of someone w...

Many valve boxes (including 10" rounds) can come with what is called a "lockable" lid. The lock is just an angled bolt that stops the lid from being lifted. It is turned into place with a wrench. I would not, under any circumstances, bury a valve box so it can not be found. We put valve boxes around things for a reason... so we have access to items for service. Burying a box is a guarantee of future headaches. To the orignal poster: Do you reason to be concerned with the possibility of someone w...

For zone 1: If the line is plugged, which it sounds like is very possible, I'd approach it somewhat scientifically. Whatever is plugging the line has to be small enough to get in the line but large enough to block the flow. So, first, I'd dig up the fist head on the line and remove the fitting it is attached to. This fitting is likely the first fitting on the line, so you may be able to find whatever has plugged the line right there. Turn the water on and see if you can blow the plug out. If no ...

OK... Zone 1 - You have water passing thru the valve (leak when solenoid open). Either the line between the first head and the valve is plugged, or broken as water does not get to the first head. Leave the valve open a bit and see if you have some soggy ground show up (broken pipe). Zone 3 - Check the wiring at the valve to see if the connections are tight. If you have a voltmeter, check the voltage at the solenoid when the zone is on from the control panel (should be around 26v AC). If you have...

Rainbird 1" Jartop valves are .3 amp inrush. Its definitely a mind bender of a problem. Part of the equation, and why I can't be more definitive is that the developer is still trying to modify the landscape scheme. sigh. On the plus side, they are real good about signing off on change orders. I swear it bothers me more to write these up than it bothers them to sign them.

It seems to be an interesting question with no definite answer. I stopped at my supplier's today and got 3 different answers on it. The manager agreed with my interpredation, but there's no saying we're right... So..the theoretical answer is as I described above. So.. a 1.5 amp output from the controller could fire a number of valves depending on their need... in my example above, I could do 5 valves. This is assuming no line loss. Digging around... 18 guage wire (which I am using) can go 1100 f...

Looking at things.... 1" valve needs .30 amp inrush to start (and .19 to hold)... controller outputs 1.5 amps. Would seem like the theoretical maximum would be 5 valves could open on a wire. Would probably stick to 4 to be safe if I could. The entire situation is complex. Long story short: engineering drawings for the site had the wrong scale on them; site is actualy 70% bigger than planned. 900' of mainline is already run along with 20 zones worth of control wire buried. Nobody (especially me) ...

I'm betting the valves for zones 9-12 share a valvebox and that the common(usually white) wire for all those valves isn't connected tightly. If you have a setup where you only have one valve per box, chck to see a bad connection on the common that may be interrupting the current for those valves.

OK...hardcore question [] I've got a situation where it looks as if we are going to need to run lots of valves simultaneously. Oddly enough, water volume isn't the issue (2" main) as much as distribution around the property (commercial site, tons of concrete, etc). So.. how many valves can be run off of a wire? Oddly enough,I've never tried to run more than 2, but I think I've got a situation here where I may need to fire 4-6 valves as a zone.. Anyone tried such a thing?

Mixing and matching brands really won't cause you any problems. There is very, very little functional difference between spray heads. 12 foot nozzles when you have 14 foot spacing will cause you to have some gaps in coverage, so I'd be changing out nozzles to 15' if pressure allows.

The selector switch is for programming. The controller will run ALL programs at their scheduled time. So, if you set up A and B, both will run. The rain sensor will cause the controller to miss a cycle. The controller will NOT try to schedule later, etc.

I think that you've answered your own question here. You found a contractor you like and who seems helpful. I'd stop right there. The few hundred dollars you may save with contractor 1 is likely not worth the trust factor of contractor 2. I no longer give line item quotes to customers; much less individual product prices. A LOT of customers use that as a shopping list and the reality is that I give a service. I'm not going to price match Home Depot, etc; people want the cheapest products, then t...

You should be able to support 4 of the Orbit Voyager heads at 10gpm. Your simple hose test is pretty flawed due to how restrictive a hose is coupled with the fact that the supply line to a hose bib is usually 1/2" in size as well. When you say that you are useing shrub bubblers, do you mean pop-up sprayers or true bubblers? Proper tree bubblers just gurgle water gently and are intended for watering one tree each.

Rainbird and Hunter are both top notch brands. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Just make sure that you are being quoted for contractor grade parts and not consumer stuff that you can find in home stores.

Drip vs. spray is a complex issue. A lot of it will depend upon the soil conditions in your area. Where I'm at, we very rarely use drip line because there is so much clay in the soil that we don't get good percolation and end up not getting good performance from the drip line. As to Rainbird vs. Orbit... take the $500 and enjoy better quality product for a lesser price. As RidgRun said, make sure they are using professional grade product. There is a big difference in quality between consumer out...